What is your main disappointment, complaint with this film either as an adaptation of Tolkiens work or just as a piece of cinema, or both?

What is the thing that irked you the most?

What disgusted you? If you reached that level of contempt ..

Mine is Azog and the weird" bad guy returned " moments. Combined with his cliched lines. I feel it really destroys the hobbitness of the hobbit, if you know what i mean.

I also didnt like the Rivendell scenes, whereas in the fellowship they are some of my favourites. The CGi obviousness of many shots, the unimpressive camera shots, the handling of Bilbo and the dwarves, his almost absence at a point in the story when he should be the focus of attention, interrupting the sequence to see Azog throw a minion to the wolves- rolls eyes- and Bombur trashing the place, etc... Vous commencez ą m'ennuyer avec le port!!!

I have come to appreciate this scene more but on the first viewing I was really disappointed with the Troll scene. The juvenile humor was off-putting. And it wasn't particularly well-written. There had to be better suggestions for Bilbo to make than the parasite dodge. Suggesting that the dwarves had parasites sounded too 21st century to me. And I cannot for the life of me understand why Gandalf wasn't given his entire "Dawn take you all and be stone to you" line.

And I cannot for the life of me understand why Gandalf wasn't given his entire "Dawn take you all and be stone to you" line
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Oh indeed. How i wanted to hear that line.

How awesome it would be if Ian Mckellen had uttered that line. I am sure he would have done it in some amazing wizardly way that would have become famous, for sure. Not as much as you shall not pass, of course.. Vous commencez ą m'ennuyer avec le port!!!

"it was a Hobbit hole, and that means: comfort". I was saying it to myself when I first watched the movie, and it was a bit of a jar to not hear the same words. '"Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!" he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb.'

and i'm liking it more and more each time i see it. Some of the things that bothered me the first couple of times i saw it don't bother me as much now (mainly, the whole 'Into the Fire' sequence). But there are a few things that i still don't like, and i doubt will ever grow on me...

-Anything to do with Azog (though i do like that the orcs speak in the black speech) -The indestructible dwarves and the falling bridge -The indestructible dwarves and the stone giants -The indestructible dwarves and the goonies cave slide -Pretty much anything involving indestructible dwarves (and hobbits) -The Radagast bunny sled/orc chase sequence (i liked Radagast overall, though, much to my surprise)

But i really don't want to seem like i'm complaining about AUJ, because i really do like it. It may not be great like the LotR films, but it is a good film, and i think it'll work just fine as a first chapter to this epic story about a couple of Baggins'. In many ways, i think AUJ probably had the most difficult job of all the six films, it being the first of the 3 new films after us all getting to know the LotR films so well over the last 10 years, and it being so similar in so many ways to Fellowship, with so many familiar characters and locations and story elements. But now that it's out and we've all seen it, we can get on with the next two films and all the new stuff they have to offer.

10. General over-use of CGI throughout the whole film. It really took me out of the film instead of in. Being able tell fake from real so easily was a huge bummer for me, and is really the only thing that almost feels like a direct betrayal of the style and techniques used in the LOTR trilogy.

9. Radagast. His character isn't all that bad, it's just the things he is given to do that really bother me. He was able to easily off the witch king, and his mode of transportation really bothers me. This brings me to number 8...

8. The Warg/Rabbit sled chase. Not only is the scene pretty much impossible, it's really just a mess. It had terrible green screen which was worse than almost any green screen in the LOTR trilogy. The geography of the scene doesn't really seem to flow or make much sense. I could never get a good sense of where everyone was. This is also where Radagast disappears from the film, and it's just really strange.

7. Stone Giant's sequence. It's just too much. Seeing the stone giants battling, with a few close calls from boulders would have been fine. An elaborate, yet very short action sequence with knee surfing dwarves was just crazy. It didn't add to the film at all.

6. Azog. I can't really say the word "cliche" enough to sum up his character. I don't mind that he was added into the story, but his purpose was to speed things up. That's really all he did. There wasn't much dimension to his character at all. He was there simply to have someone for the company to run from.

5. Ori. His character was just really bad for me. He seemed more immature and ill-equipped than Bilbo did, which is very strange. Almost every line spoken by him made me cringe. The slingshot was just pointless. Even Bilbo had a sword (albeit a small one).

4. General lack of character development or emotion. Not that The Hobbit is supposed to be as emotionally intense as LOTR, but I really just didn't feel much for anyone in the movie. They were indestructible anyways, so why would I care?

3. Goblin town chase sequence. This scene was approaching "nuke the fridge" levels of ridiculousness. It almost looked more like a perfectly choreographed dance than a fight/escape sequence.

2. Ian Holm's Wig. Now, I'm no makeup artist or hair dresser, but it's just so obviously different that I don't understand how they allowed it. I know this is a VERY nit-picky thing to put at number 2, but it just frustrates me beyond belief. If someone can give me a good reason why his wig looks so strange, I would honestly love to hear it so that I can get some perspective. Was it really a problem to get him a more similar styled wig?

1.Entire Rivendell Sequence

Oh where to begin...I'll start with the CGI. Rivendell feels fake and cramped in AUJ. It doesn't feel like the same place from LOTR. It's almost like it was robbed of everything that made it so beautiful. Those amazing outdoor sets used in LOTR really sold the place for me, and the lighting was much more natural. Rivendell in AUJ was constantly drenched in the most over the top lighting style that it was almost laughable. How they decided this looked better is beyond me. Maybe this is why Bilbo didn't seem to care all that much for it. By the way, where did Bilbo go in Rivendell? Actually, where did he go for the whole middle portion of the film? The second it cuts to him looking back after the white council sequence, I go "Oh yeah, I'm watching The Hobbit". Bilbo is given no reason to be so fond of Rivendell, and all the dwarves do there is whine about the food and break tables. I was really looking forward to visiting The Last Homely House. How come it felt so sterile, lifeless, and not homely at all? "You're love of the halflings leaf has clearly slowed your mind"

I can deal with it, and I don't mind the existence of the bunny sled itself, but I think it's badly placed and executed compared to the rest of the film (which I think is brilliant). The Grey Pilgrim, they once called me. Three hundred lives of men I walked this earth, and now I have no time...

And sheez, those credits just take *forever* to sit through. I mean, why do they need so many people? And it's so disappointing not to have some sort of teaser trailer thingy afterwards! They ought to give those of us who sit all the way through til the bitter end SOME sort of reward.

Portions of the warg chase. Not really for the CGI, which I know wasn't the best, but for the confusing sense of geography. I couldn't tell at all whether or not the wargs were closing in on them, running the wrong way, or if everyone was just going in one big circle.

I think that because the forest disappeared so strangely, this helped contribute to my disliking some of this.

Slyvester McCoy nearly always overacts and hams up the buffoon. Mind you, he did do something interesting with his later Dr Who episodes and gave the Dr some dark gravitas so there is some hope.

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Ori. His character was just really bad for me. He seemed more immature and ill-equipped than Bilbo did, which is very strange. Almost every line spoken by him made me cringe. The slingshot was just pointless

I thought that was the point; everyone thinks Ori is useless, he's the wimp/nerd whom tags along for the ride. I don't know if you are familiar with the 1980s Brit comedy the Young One's but I swear that Nori, Ori and Dori are based on Vyvyan, Rik and Neil; Vyvyan the psychopath with star fish hair, and perchant for stealing anything not nailed down, Rik (ori) the nerd whom , makes risible wimpy threats and writes a lot in his diary and, Neil the home loving hippie, whose reaction in a crisis is too, flap, tell everyone else to calm down and offer them herbal/chamomile tea...

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The Warg/Rabbit sled chase. Not only is the scene pretty much impossible, it's really just a mess

yes, that was my am I watching Harry Potter moment (not a compliment). However, didn't notice the green screen but a lot of comments on how good/bad the CGI was in AUj seems to depend on the format you viewed it in and competency of your local cineplexs projectionist.

Alteration of The Dwarven History, Alteration to Angmar's history, problems with certain character dynamics in The Council scene, Too Much Stone and Too much giant. . .
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There is a fairly long short list, for a film which, overall, I really loved. I think it is a wonderful film, and for that it is also, in its way, a great film, though not so profound nor as lofty as Lord of The Rings, which is appropriate. I have listed off things I loved. Here are some things which I did not, and which, in some instances, I hated.

1) The alteration of the actual history of The Dwarves for the sake of including Azog. That history is POWERFUL! From Thrain tearing his beard as he wept and sitting 7 silent days, to the muster for the war of vengeance in which all the Dwarf Houses took part, so infuriated were they over the desecration of the Heir of Durin, the symbolic Father of all their race, to their "sacking all the strongholds of the goblins they could find from Gundabad to The Gladden," and them having "hunted for Azog in every den under the mountains," to Dain (I would have been okay with them making it Thorin, if Dain still gets some later cameo) slaying Azog at the gate, only to behold the Great Terror of his people, The Balrog of Moria, Captain of Melkor The Morgoth, Bane of Durin, and the only true master of that region for a thousand years, and finally Dain returning to Thrain and informing him that "YOU will NOT enter Khazad-Dum. . . it waits for you still, Durin's Bane. The world must change, and some other (greater) Power than that of The Dwarves must come before Durin's folk walk again in Moria." The tale we got was good, but LESS by far than what it could and should have been.2) ^ The scene above went a little too graphic, when one considers how clearly targeted at children other parts of the movie (some properly) were, and the fact that this film was always going to have an appeal for children if done at all correctly (which it largely was). They could have related Thror's fate without having it displayed for a 30 to 35 second sequence. 3) THE FLAMING PINECONES WERE UNDERWHELMING . I hesitate to complain about this scene because A) I am very glad that it made it in at all and B) I am thankful it played as much a role as it did. . . yet it still seemed a little cheap in its execution. Obviously it should not have turned into an over the top moment. But there was something almost comic and certainly less than adequately impressive about the decided lack of bang in those makeshift missiles. It would have been much more satisfying if they had ignited in blue fire, as does the first one in the book, and had a little more force upon impact, rather like scaled down versions of the blue blast of flame with which filmic Gandalf dislodges the massive stone in the Goblin Town sequence.4) The Dynamic of The Council, especially, at certain points, between Gandalf and Galadriel. There were parts of the scene which I loved, but the Gandalf whom Galadriel wished to see lead the Council, and who refused because he was unwilling to be subject to any summons or authority save The Powers who sent him, was nowhere to be seen here. There were some beautiful moments between himself and Galadriel, but some of the other moments left a distinct (and erronneous) impression that she was somehow his direct superior and guidance counsellor. A lay viewer would almost certainly never realize, based on that scene, that he was a Holy messenger sent to aid Elves and all other free folk. They would more likely (and some major critics DID) come away with the notion that she was his instructor. 5) Lindir getting a spotlight whilst Glorfindel again gets the shaft. I know the reasons. The reasons are shatty garbage. I know it is a small matter to some. Yet, Glorfindel, aside from his august nature and friendship with Gandalf and Elrond, played a significant role in the history of The Third Age at at least two points, one of them being a defining moment in the overthrow of Angmar and its Witch-King (a topic which this film specifically raises). Lindir never did anything to our knowledge except read and judge poetry between Aragorn and Bilbo. 6) The Stone Giants were. . . just too much. It is all spilt milk now, and I won't cry over it, but They were too stony, their sequence lasted too long, and they were WAAAY too big. How am I going to be properly impressed by the size of Smaug (who should be the single most massive creature we ever encounter in these films) when I have been subjected to a good five to seven minutes of mountains coming alive and attacking each other? I originally wanted the Stone Giants in the film. . . but more humanoid and less gigantic. Be careful what you wish for, indeed. 7) I ended up really liking Radagast, if the truth be known, from his enchanted forest, to his enchanted tree house, to the beautiful gemstone in his staff, to his quick analysis of the witchcraft at work, to his bunny sled, yes even the sled, which I thought was a wonderful touch for children who are, as they should be, an important constituancy of The Hobbit's overall audience. And, unlike you Jtarkey, I was thrilled that the Wizard put his wand/staff dead and center in the Witch-King's ass. The Nine would all have been less potent at this point in time than they were by the time of the other films, and it also helped assuage the insult of how RIDICULOUSLY over powered The Witch-King was portrayed in the extended version of Return of The King. My GREAT HOPE is that Gandalf might hopefully be shown in Dol Guldur putting a FAR more ASTOUNDING fight up against The Nine, in a manner mirroring his light and flame and Lightning seen from afar leaping up from the hilltop battle with them atop Amon Sul in Fellowship. . . the battle that was left out of the film. And, having said all that, let me tell you the things I actually disliked about Radagast. . . lol. There were times when the silly went too over the top. The bird feces on his face? Too much. The constant crossing of his eyes. . . also too much. It was bearable in the smoking scene, but it really damaged, to my mind, his healing/spider daunting spell, which was otherwise a very serious and impressive moment. 8) And, yes, much of the warg chase was superflous, though I REALLY liked their initial introduction with their howling, Bilbo's query, and Bofur's answer. The one flaw of that early part of the scene was that the massive Wargs were too easily put down, and thus the terror of them was diminished.9) Too much in the snot gag department, to the point where it was nearly Gag inducing. Much of the Troll scene was spot on excellent in my estimation, but the over emphasis on the mucous swinging from Tom's nose was disgusting and unecessary. The use of Bilbo as a handkerchief would have been fine without Jackson going over the top in the repulsive antics department.10) I LOVED Gandalf's explosive entrance into Goblin Town. It was epic and magnificent, and it did alot to make up for how pared down his scenes of Wizardry were in Fellowship. I also loved how he flame blast dislodged a boulder, and I liked much of the dwarves fighting techniques. And, yes, I was very amused by Dame Goblin King, and was glad for the performance. But the chase scene lasted at least 3 minutes too long (or so it seemed), and there were points during the repeated twirlings and leaps, and swaying pieces of archietecture when it did become too much of a cross between The Goonies (as much as I LOVED that movie), meets Indiana Jones meets the Fables video game series (much as I loved the first three of those games lol).11) I thought the dwarves had too hard a time dealing with the orcs. It shouldn't have taken both Dwalin and Bifur more than a minute to kill an already downed orc. And Thorin's battle with Azog was pathetic. I know Azog was on a warg the size of a an adult bison or buffalo. Yet, wielding Orcrist, Thorin repelled the hippopotamusss sized Goblin King. It would have been more satisfying if Thorin's enchanted sword had at least met with Azog's mace and dismounted him. Then, during a more appreciable combat, Thorin still could have been flung back, and the great white warg could still have taken him from behind into her jaws, resulting in him still having to be saved and Bilbo still getting his moved up moment to shine.12) Lastly, I never quite forgot that story about the lady who was turned away from a casting audition for tone, and I would have liked to have seen a greater bit of diversity in Dale. Maybe next film. I know, I know. . . but still. And that is it. That is absolutely all. Anything else that I did not plaintively discuss, you may assume I either loved or liked quite well."Hear me, hounds of Sauron, Gandalf is here! Fly if you value your foul skins, I will shrivel you from tail to snout if you step within this circle!"

"Do not be to eager to deal out death in judgement. Even the very wise cannot see all ends."

I loved pretty much all of it (though there were certain parts that I liked more than others), except:

'Too much in the snot gag department, to the point where it was nearly Gag inducing. Much of the Troll scene was spot on excellent in my estimation, but the over emphasis on the mucous swinging from Tom's nose was disgusting and unecessary. The use of Bilbo as a handkerchief would have been fine without Jackson going over the top in the repulsive antics department.'

and the burping, Radagast's make-up and the stick insect. Those were a bit too much for me.

What is your main disappointment, complaint with this film either as an adaptation of Tolkiens work or just as a piece of cinema, or both?

I'm not as upset as many others plainly are about what they consider to be "cliches" in the film. Yes, they're absent from the original novel but, then, Tolkien was writing in the mid-1930s well before the mainstream cinematic formulae had been entrenched and was, quite deliberately, eschewing modern forms of literature in favour of something more archaic.

Jackson, on the other hand, with $500 million of someone else's money in his pocket and (at least) 35 years of blockbuster tradition behind him, had far greater constraints and expectations upon him than Tolkien ever did. The "cliches", such as they are, are an inevitable result of this, something to be expected and, sadly, tolerated (with a resigned shrug).

What does disappoint me much more are the alterations to the lore that have no justification whatsoever. Azog's survival of Azunulbizar is the main offender here (for little other reason than "having a cool name", as Boyens put it [near enough]) and, yes, the characterisation of Radagast, which, in my view is (please excuse the pun) ghastly.

Another major disappointment is the hugely underwhelming re-write of the opening paragraph. Jackson and Co. had at their disposal perhaps the most famous opening paragraph in all of children's literature and, rather than employ it to its fullest charm, decided to excise it and replace it with something resolutely inferior.

Oh well. "I have found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."

Just to play along: the belching, drinking game, bird poop, and the chin of the Goblin King. Also, that the movie wasn't long enough. One more serious note I would like to have seen the Balrog used as the main reason they didn't chase after Azog.

10. General over-use of CGI throughout the whole film. It really took me out of the film instead of in. Being able tell fake from real so easily was a huge bummer for me, and is really the only thing that almost feels like a direct betrayal of the style and techniques used in the LOTR trilogy.

9. Radagast. His character isn't all that bad, it's just the things he is given to do that really bother me. He was able to easily off the witch king, and his mode of transportation really bothers me. This brings me to number 8...

8. The Warg/Rabbit sled chase. Not only is the scene pretty much impossible, it's really just a mess. It had terrible green screen which was worse than almost any green screen in the LOTR trilogy. The geography of the scene doesn't really seem to flow or make much sense. I could never get a good sense of where everyone was. This is also where Radagast disappears from the film, and it's just really strange.

7. Stone Giant's sequence. It's just too much. Seeing the stone giants battling, with a few close calls from boulders would have been fine. An elaborate, yet very short action sequence with knee surfing dwarves was just crazy. It didn't add to the film at all.

6. Azog. I can't really say the word "cliche" enough to sum up his character. I don't mind that he was added into the story, but his purpose was to speed things up. That's really all he did. There wasn't much dimension to his character at all. He was there simply to have someone for the company to run from.

5. Ori. His character was just really bad for me. He seemed more immature and ill-equipped than Bilbo did, which is very strange. Almost every line spoken by him made me cringe. The slingshot was just pointless. Even Bilbo had a sword (albeit a small one).

4. General lack of character development or emotion. Not that The Hobbit is supposed to be as emotionally intense as LOTR, but I really just didn't feel much for anyone in the movie. They were indestructible anyways, so why would I care?

3. Goblin town chase sequence. This scene was approaching "nuke the fridge" levels of ridiculousness. It almost looked more like a perfectly choreographed dance than a fight/escape sequence.

2. Ian Holm's Wig. Now, I'm no makeup artist or hair dresser, but it's just so obviously different that I don't understand how they allowed it. I know this is a VERY nit-picky thing to put at number 2, but it just frustrates me beyond belief. If someone can give me a good reason why his wig looks so strange, I would honestly love to hear it so that I can get some perspective. Was it really a problem to get him a more similar styled wig?

1.Entire Rivendell Sequence

Oh where to begin...I'll start with the CGI. Rivendell feels fake and cramped in AUJ. It doesn't feel like the same place from LOTR. It's almost like it was robbed of everything that made it so beautiful. Those amazing outdoor sets used in LOTR really sold the place for me, and the lighting was much more natural. Rivendell in AUJ was constantly drenched in the most over the top lighting style that it was almost laughable. How they decided this looked better is beyond me. Maybe this is why Bilbo didn't seem to care all that much for it. By the way, where did Bilbo go in Rivendell? Actually, where did he go for the whole middle portion of the film? The second it cuts to him looking back after the white council sequence, I go "Oh yeah, I'm watching The Hobbit". Bilbo is given no reason to be so fond of Rivendell, and all the dwarves do there is whine about the food and break tables. I was really looking forward to visiting The Last Homely House. How come it felt so sterile, lifeless, and not homely at all?

People can look down their noses saying 'oh how negative' but in reality there were things just plain wrong with the movie, just as there were things the movie got really right.

Even when asked what are their favourite bits massive fans of the movie say pretty much the same things as people who had problems with it so it just goes to show that those parts which dont get a mention in 'favourite' threads aren't that great but it just depends on how much people find them annoying.

I have noticed most people who either prefer the movie or have no real problems came to read the hobbit after the lord of the rings or when they were a young adult/adult rather than as a child - (i said most by the way, so not saying everyone before people cry). I think had i came to the hobbit later in life i wouldn't hold it in the same affection i do now but then i guess i will never know.

Some of the problems in this film for me - such as pacing i think will be helped when the EE is released which will lead to greater characterisation occuring, maybe more bilbo related things? Who knows?

Still i guess it could have been a whole lot worse - as usual WETA did themselves proud and i think the make-up, costume departments were excellent and i am so thankful for Alan Lee and John Howe for being on board as for me WETA and Alan Lee, John Howe are the main reasons this and lotr are as good as they are.